Chemical weapons in the context of Conventional weapon

Industrial warfare is a period in the history of warfare ranging roughly from the early 19th century and the start of the Industrial Revolution to the beginning of the Atomic Age, which saw the rise of nation-states, capable of creating and equipping large armies, navies, and air forces, through the process of industrialization.

The era featured mass-conscripted armies, rapid transportation (first on railroads, then by sea and air), telegraph and wireless communications, and the concept of total war. In terms of technology, this era saw the rise of rifled breech-loading infantry weapons capable of high rates of fire, high-velocity breech-loading artillery, chemical weapons, armoured warfare, metal warships, submarines, and aircraft.

On 28 June 1987, Iraq dropped mustard gas bombs on Sardasht, West Azerbaijan, Iran. In two separate bombing runs on four residential areas, the attack killed 130 people and injured 8,000. The gas attacks occurred during the Iran–Iraq War when Iraq frequently used chemical weapons against Iranian civilians and soldiers.

In 2006, a quarter of the town's 20,000 residents were still experiencing severe illnesses from the attacks. The film Walnut Tree (2020) was inspired by the event.

Lethality (also called deadliness or perniciousness) is how capable something is of causing death. Most often it is used when referring to diseases, chemical weapons, biological weapons, or their toxic chemical components. The use of this term denotes the ability of these weapons to kill, but also the possibility that they may not kill. Reasons for the lethality of a weapon to be inconsistent, or expressed by percentage, can be as varied as minimized exposure to the weapon, previous exposure to the weapon minimizing susceptibility, degradation of the weapon over time and/or distance, and incorrect deployment of a multi-component weapon.

This term can also refer to the after-effects of weapon use, such as nuclear fallout, which has highest lethality nearest the deployment site, and in proportion to the subject's size and nature; e.g. a child or small animal.

Chemical weapons have been a part of warfare in most societies for centuries. However, their usage has been extremely controversial since the 20th century.

The Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, usually called the Geneva Protocol, is a treaty prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons in international armed conflicts. It was signed at Geneva on 17 June 1925 and entered into force on 8 February 1928. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on 7 September 1929. The Geneva Protocol is a protocol to the Convention for the Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition and in Implements of War signed on the same date, and followed the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907.

It prohibits the use of "asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids, materials or devices" and "bacteriological methods of warfare". This is now understood to be a general prohibition on chemical weapons and biological weapons between state parties, but has nothing to say about production, storage or transfer. Later treaties did cover these aspects – the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

France is one of the five nuclear-weapon states recognized by the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) but is not known to possess or develop any chemical or biological weapons. France is the only member of the European Union to possess nuclear weapons.

France was the fourth country to test a nuclear weapon, in 1960, and tested its first thermonuclear weapon in 1968. Charles de Gaulle was influential in the country's decision to develop both weapons and nuclear forces. France is also believed to have tested neutron bomb designs. The forces were developed in the late 1950s and 1960s to give France the ability to distance itself from NATO while still deterring the Soviet Union. France remains the only NATO member to not participate in its Nuclear Planning Group. France was the last of the five NPT-recognized nuclear-weapon states to ratify the treaty, in August 1992.

The nuclear weapons of the United States comprise the second-largest arsenal in the world, behind Russia. The US is only country to have used nuclear weapons in warfare, in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. The Manhattan Project, begun in 1942, made the US the first nuclear-armed country. The US operates a nuclear triad. The US previously possessed chemical and biological weapons. It is a ratifier of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Biological Weapons Convention, and Chemical Weapons Convention.

As of 2025, the United States actively deploys approximately 1,770 warheads, mostly under Strategic Command, to its nuclear triad. Of these, 970 warheads on Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles aboard to Ohio-class submarines with, 400 warheads to silo-based Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, and 300 bombs and cruise missiles to B-2 Spirit and B-52 Stratofortress bombers. The US also forward deploys nuclear weapons in the form of approximately 100 B61 bombs in six European NATO countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, and United Kingdom. The US warhead inventory totals 5,177 warheads, with 1,930 warheads for reserve use, and another 1,477 awaiting dismantlement.

A parasympathomimetic drug, sometimes called a cholinomimetic drug or cholinergic receptor stimulating agent, is a substance that stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS). These chemicals are also called cholinergic drugs because acetylcholine (ACh) is the neurotransmitter used by the PSNS. Chemicals in this family can act either directly by stimulating the nicotinic or muscarinic receptors (thus mimicking acetylcholine), or indirectly by inhibiting cholinesterase, promoting acetylcholine release, or other mechanisms. Common uses of parasympathomimetics include glaucoma, Sjögren syndrome and underactive bladder.

Some chemical weapons such as sarin or VX, non-lethal riot control agents such as tear gas, and insecticides such as diazinon fall into this category.